Our anticipated 10:00 start ended up a 10:35 start for a variety of reasons. But with a wonderful send off from dockmates Claire and Kathy and my P.E.O. sister Rhonda from Lafayette who has a cottage in Holland ( and who brought donuts and other pastries -thank you, Rhonda!) we left our slip and headed south.

If you ever need a good shipyard and marina on the east side of Lake Michigan, this is the place to go. They treated us so well and the service dept. went above and beyond on many occasions for us. Thank you Thom, Mike, Jake, Matt, and all the others who helped us.

Jake, who runs the parts dept. and ship store, and who patiently answered my  questions  almost every day.

A last look at our slip with Claire, Kathy, and Rhonda waving goodbye to us.

Just after we pulled out of our slip

Passing the Holland lighthouse, Big Red , one last time

Soon after getting out into Lake Michigan we hit some intermittent big waves. I was headed below to look for something and realized our dinghy was no longer on the lift and the lift was no longer where it was supposed to be. Rich was eventually able to get the dinghy loose and tied to the side of the boat and we went more slowly than planned into Saugatuck. The river current was really strong and we had to go against the current to get into a slip -yet another adventure!  (Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have no photos of this part of our day).

Rich was eventually able to get the lift working properly and the man who installed the lift came down from Holland to make sure it was okay. We got the dinghy back on the lift and securely fastened down, but unfortunately the hull now has a hole in it. It’s a double hull so it still floats if we had to use it in an emergency. The installer from Holland has a good friend in Chicago who can repair the hole, so it ended up  better than we had hoped for.

By the time we got the dinghy issue resolved and i had cleaned up the inside of the boat it was time to get ready for dinner. Our good friends Mickie and Tom, who have a slip just a few down from where we are, joined us for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Saugatuck. It turned out to be a great birthday!

Tomorrow we head to St. Joseph MI, a trip of 44miles.